Students & Alumni

Shana Almeida

Shana Almeida completed a Master's Degree in 2005 at York University in social work with a focus on anti-racist pedagogy and practice. Currently a PhD student, her doctoral research engages with critical race and postcolonial theories to explore the shifting racial logics and expressions internal to ‘diversity’ discourse in the City of Toronto.

Shana worked in municipal politics for 6 years, most recently with Toronto City Councillor Gord Perks on several city-wide initiatives including community and civic engagement, representation of racialized groups in decision-making bodies and community-based, participatory research to examine health inequities for racialized communities. In 2009 she also held an instructor position at Seneca College in the Social Service Worker - Immigrants and Refugees Diploma Program.

Shana is also the author of “Race in Democratic Spaces” in the edited volume provisionally titled “Immigration & Settlement: Challenges, Experiences and Opportunities in Global and Local Contexts”, to be published in January 2012.

In addition to her academic pursuits and her work at the City of Toronto, Shana served as Chair of the Board of Directions of The South Asian Women’s Centre for four years, and has returned after a one year hiatus to assume the role of Vice-Chair. She is also extremely committed to her political advocacy and organizing work in the city.

Ferzana Chaze

Ferzana Chaze (PhD Candidate) has over 17 years of social work practice, education and research experience with a focus on vulnerable children, women, and families and on issues related to immigrant settlement and integration.
After completing her MSW at the University of Mumbai in 1992, Ferzana worked with vulnerable street children and youth in Mumbai for three years. Thereafter she took up a position as a social work lecturer at the University of Mumbai where she continued her involvement in various social development projects and community development through field work supervision of her students.
Since completing her second MSW from the University of Toronto in 2005, Ferzana co-edited and coordinated the book “Putting a Human Touch on Child Welfare- Voices from the Prairies” while at the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare at the University of Toronto. She also contributed research to the book “Immigration and Settlement in Canada.” More recently she has coordinated a mixed-method study at Ryerson University on the experiences of internationally trained engineers looking for work in Canada.

Ferzana serves on the Board of Directors of The India Rainbow Community Services of Peel. She has also initiated an online information and discussion group for immigrant parents, which now has almost 200 members. Her doctoral research focuses on understanding how visible minority newcomers to Canada carry out their mothering/parenting work, and the manner in which this parenting is shaped by the transnational linkages of the immigrants and by various institutional arrangements in society.

Sulaimon Giwa

Sulaimon Giwa is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, School of Social Work, at York University. His doctoral research explores the experiences of, and resilience (including coping strategies) of gay and bisexual men of colour, to racism. He holds a Diploma (Sir Sandford Fleming College) in Law and Security Administration, with a specialization in Police Education; a Bachelor of Honours in Criminology and Criminal Justice (Concentration in Law and Minor in Women’s Studies) and a Master’s of Social Work (Carleton University). Sulaimon’s professional experience includes direct practice; research and policy work at the community and federal level, primarily in youth health promotions, community and organizational practice in diverse communities, corrections, and policing. His research interests are in the areas of anti-racism and oppression; social work research and practice; race and sexuality; and the criminal justice system. He has taught in the social work programs at Ryerson University and York University.

Julia Janes

Before entering the doctoral program, Julia spent five years conducting arts-informed participatory action research in the areas of homelessness, housing insecurity, aging in place, older woman abuse and financial literacy. Although committed to collaborative, inclusive and community-engaged research, she returned to academe to explore how participatory praxis might further democratize and decolonize knowledge production. Her program of research seeks to understand the desire for, discourse and material effects of participatory knowledge production, as well as how it can be deployed to challenge knowledge monopolies and epistemic authority. Drawing on Foucauldian governmentality, critical race and postcolonial theories, her research will pursue a number of questions not currently addressed in the literature, including inquiries into: how international participatory development interlocks with local participatory research; how the desire for the subaltern knower and her knowledge might be understood as a transgressive encounter; and how communities experience and articulate participatory knowledge production.

Ameil J. Joseph

BA- (Psychology)- University of Waterloo-Waterloo, ON

Dip. SW- (Social Work)- Renison University College- Waterloo, ON

MSW- Wilfrid Laurier University-Kitchener, ON

PhD student- (Social Work)- York University- Toronto, ON

Recent Work: Ameil comes to his Doctoral studies with over 7 years of mental health experience, in hospital, group home, crisis respite, assertive community treatment, forensic, and early intervention settings. Ameil’s recent service includes work with the Central Local Health Integration Network’s Health Professionals Advisory Committee and Health Equity Network. Ameil has also been a member of CMHA Toronto’s Equity and Diversity Committee since 2008 and has participated in fundraising activities for Amnesty International, Prostate Cancer Canada, and Habitat for Humanity.

Interests: Critical Mental Health, Ethics, Postcolonial Theory, Social Justice, Forensic Mental Health, Critical Race Theory, Historiography

Daniel Kikulwe

I am a PhD Social Work Student at York University. My area of academic interest is in child welfare practice. My research explores the various forms and uses of power within child welfare context as related to technologies of governance from gendered and racialized child welfare workers’ perspectives. I am particularly interested in linking Foucault’s theoretical perspectives on the notions of governmentality to child welfare institutional structures with a focus on five key areas including, state legislation, organizational hierarchies, job roles, agency training and policies.
I have also developed an interest in kinship care in terms of the important role that kin caregivers play in providing alternate options for children who cannot live with their parents.

Anh Ngo

Anh Ngo, MSW (University of Toronto) is a Doctoral Student of the School of Social Work within the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies at York University. She draws on her practice experience within the Vietnamese Diaspora of Toronto in various areas such as community advocacy, organizational leadership, immigration settlement, family violence and community/clinical mental health. Her relevant previous and current professional affiliations include the Hong Fook Mental Health Association, the Mount Sinai Hospital Assertive Community Treatment Team and the Vietnamese Women’s Association of Toronto. Anh’s research interests include racialized community political engagement as well as mental health and wellness among immigrant groups.